Waiting for Him
by SparkaDark
Summary: "Tony sighed inwardly, reaching the front doors of his home in the wee hours of the morning. There Em was, as always, camped out on the front steps, waiting. For him. She was a tiny little thing, thank God, so it was easy, as usual, to scoop her up in order to carry her up to bed. It was their little ritual, but it broke his heart every time."
1. The Sleeper

**Update: Thanks for continuing to check in on this one. The rest of the story structure is in place! Please be patient while I flesh it out. Quick backstory: She's his, but not Pepper's. A delightfully complicated little 11- year old surprise for Tony, post IM3. Pepper is an amazing mom. (But we always knew she would be!)**

**Reviews would help A LOT. I need motivation! Thanks in advance!**

**Disclaimer: Only the OC is mine. Everything else? You know who owns it.**

_Tony sighed inwardly, reaching the front doors of his home in the wee hours of the morning. There Em was, as always, camped out on the front steps, waiting. For him. She was a tiny little thing, thank God, so it was easy, as usual, to scoop her up in order to carry her up to bed. It was their little ritual, but it broke his heart every time._

She'd been doing it since she was eleven.

After the clamor and confusion of her surprise arrival had simmered down, Tony's life had gone predictably unpredictable again, and, grudgingly, he had to go on a mission. Emilia did not fare well during his absence. Point of fact, she was a nervous wreck. For her, change was uncomfortable, but _fear of impending change_ was excruciating. It took a while to get to the root of the problem: She didn't know whether Tony would come back. Of course he did return, and when a sleepless, stressed Pepper explained the night she'd had, trying to keep Em calm, Tony brought in a specialist. He advised that since consistency made her more comfortable, they should devise a routine. Em would wait for Tony's return with a "mobile Jarvis" she could consult at any time to find out where he was and when she might expect him. It wasn't always accurate; fighting terrorists was notoriously unpredictable. In spite of this, they'd discovered Em had a spooky knack for knowing when Tony was on his flight home. To Pepper's surprise, Em would persist until she had gotten around security to go out and wait on the veranda for Tony's return, day or night. Sometimes she was awake when he got there during the daytime or early evening; sometimes she had been asleep for hours. Pepper was uncomfortable letting the child doze outside at night, so she tried enlisting Happy to carry her adopted daughter into the house. Em had woken up every time and refused to go to bed until Tony had brought her inside himself. She knew innately when it was her dad bringing her inside, too. Whether it was his familiar scent or the way he balanced her in his arms, when Tony was the one carrying her, she never woke.

She was 13 now, and still clutching her mobile Jarvis while she slept. Someone had covered her up… Likely one of Happy's guys. He nodded to the pair who stood just outside the doors, mumbled a few words of gratitude, then dismissed them for the evening. Looking down, he took a few moments to study her solemn, sleeping face. While awake, she was an awkward, gawky teenager who may or may not take offense to everything that came out of his mouth. He smiled at the memory of breakfast, several days ago, when he'd simply asked her, "Is that the shirt you're wearing today?" And a fit of hysterics had followed. He actually _liked_ the shirt, but she didn't give him the opportunity to say so. She'd just stomped up to her room to change.

Tony shook his head… _Girls are weird_.

Asleep, it was easier to imagine her as an infant. He would never forgive the now-dead Cara Lloyd who had stolen those baby years from him. He didn't know her weight and length at birth, had no idea when she'd learned to walk. Her first word was a mystery to him. Cara hadn't been nostalgic or sober enough to write any of it down. He had his suspicions that Em's difficulty with his absences was the psychiatric remnant of being left in her crib to cry while her mom was stoned or unconscious. But he couldn't think about that too long… It turned his stomach.

Tony deposited Em in her bed, pulling the ever-present red sneakers from her feet. He knew he'd catch hell if he didn't put them with the line of similarly red shoes she had in her closet. As long as he'd known her, she'd worn red Converse sneakers. Only the size ever changed. Tony Stark's little girl definitely had her share of idiosyncrasies. She shoe thing was cute, the refusal to change her room decor, while mildly irritating to Pepper, was tolerable, but the separation anxiety? That worried him. The Psychiatrist he'd hired told him she would grow out of it; it was a phase many kids went through after losing a parent… Even one as spectacularly neglectful as Cara. It was normal, he'd said.

Normal or not, nothing softened the blow of finding his Emmy, waiting for him at the door like a dog anxiously awaits the return of its owner. Somehow, he had to prove to her she needn't be afraid. It was just a question of figuring out how.


	2. R & D

Tony, ever the pragmatist, chose to approach Em's difficulties the way he approached every problem: with research. His first move would be to surreptitiously observe her in her "native habitat," a.k.a. Fisher School for Girls. Had it been any other situation, getting onto campus would have taken nothing more than a 2 minute phone call. You'd be surprised how quickly he was met by the school's administration when He and Pepper had first visited to see if the school would work for Em. He was pretty sure they had drawn up plans for the "Stark Science and Technology Wing" to be ready, were he ever inclined make a donation. But he wasn't visiting publicly to drop off a heart-stoppingly sizable tuition check. He needed a way to be on campus, but not be seen… Especially by Em. It was an all-girls school, so going all 21 Jump Street and trying to pose as a student wouldn't really work.

Tony pulled up one pant leg and considered… _I do have the legs for the uniform, but I'm pretty sure the facial hair would give it away._

He needed to observe her, but it had to be more… covert. He wondered how badly the press would eviscerate him, were he caught putting up tiny cameras in a building full of underage women in schoolgirl uniforms. _Yikes. Scrap option two._

He considered what kind of information he really needed in order to help Em work through her fears. Maybe he didn't necessarily have to watch her...

_Watch_. Tony looked at his wrist and smiled. _Now we're talking_.

Tony was at the Stark Industries building and in Pepper's office an hour after his epiphany. He needed to enlist Pepper in this quest. She had better taste than him.

"I need you to get me a woman's watch, " said Tony upon entering his wife's enormous penthouse office suite.

Pepper cocked an eyebrow at her agitated husband, then went back to skimming the contract she was presenting that afternoon. "I'm kind of busy here, dear. Can we talk about experimenting with cross-dressing later?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "_For Emilia_. I want to get a nice watch for _Emilia_ to wear. Not for me."

"Emmy has a nice watch." Pepper replied. "Last Christmas, remember? We agreed it would be more practical than Custom Mega-Rabbit, Mark 2."

"First of all, she would have loved that rabbit," Tony argued. "Second, I need a watch that I can modify with some special aftermarket upgrades."

Pepper was intrigued. "What kinds of upgrades?"

"Vitals monitoring and a listening device."

"YOU WANT TO SPY ON OUR DAUGHTER?" Pepper yelled in shock. She quickly pulled herself together and lowered her voice. "You are _not_ going to _eavesdrop_ on Emmy. She'd never forgive you."

"What if I told you it's for her own good?" Tony asked.

"How can violating Em's privacy possibly be good for her? For _US_? You can't break her trust like that!"

Tony sat heavily into one of the leather wingback chairs that graced the CEO's office. "I know how bad this sounds, but I think I can help with the anxiety, Pep. She can't live with this…this… pervasive uncertainty much longer. She's a nervous wreck every time I have to go. With the data the watch is going to collect, we might have a chance to find her triggers and work through them. She's hurting, Pepper. I know I'm on very shaky ground here, _but I have to try._"

The grave look on his face spoke volumes. Deep down, Pepper knew Tony would never gamble his relationship with Em. She decided to at least hear him out. Leaving her desk and paperwork, Pepper crouched down in front of Tony's chair to make eye contact. She reached out to smooth the worry lines from Tony's forehead and whispered, "Tell me what you need."

In six hours, Tony had converted a small, platinum watch into a wrist-mounted marvel of innovation. He could keep an eye on Em and get all the data he needed, just by having her wear it. All throughout her day, it would keep constant track of her respirations, blood pressure, temperature, heart rate and muscle tone. If she was feeling the slightest amount of stress, the watch would pick up on it and relay the information back to JARVIS. In addition, the watch was programmed to record all the sounds around Em. He would know in a day or two what kinds of activities correlated to increased stress. Once he had that, he could work towards making Emilia's world feel more secure.


	3. Nothing to See Here

The next morning, Tony carefully arranged the watch in its velvet lined case. So far as he could see, there was no visible evidence that a high-tech surveillance system was ensconced in the inner mechanisms. Understated and tasteful, the Audemars Piguet timepiece Pepper had recommended made a perfect disguise for the device. Tony closed and picked up the case, left his workshop and took the stairs two at a time up to the main floor of the house. He had just enough time to stop Em before her driver ushered her into the car to go to school.

"Em! Wait up a second," Tony shouted as he reached the front door.

Emilia turned around, shading her eyes from the early morning sunshine. "Dad?"

"Just hold up. I have something for you." Tony tried handing her the case. Her arms were full of books, a light sweater, her phone and a last bit of toast from breakfast. Tony motioned for her to offload her things into the car.

"Dad, I'm going to be late. I have a test." Em complained.

"This won't take a second. Can I see your left wrist?"

Emilia wrinkled her brow in confusion, but held her arm out anyway. Tony was glad to see she wasn't wearing the watch from Christmas.

_Okay… Moment of truth _

"Mom and I got you something." He opened the case and Em peered into it.

"It's really nice, but I already have a watch." She said, admiring the diamond-set face.

"Well, now you have two. You can wear this one every day. The Christmas one is more for dressy occasions, anyway. You can wear this one to school." Tony wondered if he was overselling it a bit.

_Relax, man. She's going to sense something's up._

"Oh. Okay." Em allowed Tony to fasten the watch to her wrist. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I love it. Thanks." He'd even earned a smile and a hug from her before she ducked into the back of the Bentley.

"Have a good day, sweetie." Tony backed away as the driver closed the back door and made his way around to the front seat. Keeping a neutral expression on his face until the car had left the drive, Tony waved and made himself walk casually back to the house.

_Mission accomplished. Let's see what this thing can do._

Tony quickly returned to his workshop, somewhat surprised to find Pepper already there, concentration focused on the live vitals feed Jarvis was relaying onto the center display.

"I still can't believe you talked me into this. What if it doesn't tell us anything? She'll be furious we invaded her privacy for nothing. What was her reaction when you told her what it was for?"

Tony fidgeted with a few settings."Yeah, about that… She doesn't know. As far as she's concerned, she just got a really nice watch."

"She doesn't know?!" Pepper, exasperated, made Tony face her. "Why doesn't she know?!"

"Um, because of the scientific method."

"The scientific method…"

"Telling her would introduce a new variable and skew results. We need to see her as if nothing new has happened. Would you act completely normally if you knew your dad was listening in on your school day?"

Pepper shook her head. "You're explaining it to her if she figures it out. Let me know when you find something." Pepper kissed him. "I'm leaving for work. I'll be home a bit late, so you two are on your own for dinner."

"Not a problem. See you tonight." Tony waved as she left the workshop, smiling at her until she was upstairs and out of sight. "Aaaaand… She's gone. Jarvis, pull up plans for mini-gauntlet. We only have a few hours."

"Right away, sir."

_15 miles away from the compound, data from Em's wrist monitor began silently compiling._


	4. Were You Going to Eat That?

Chapter 4:

Putting the finishing touches on his newest masterpiece, Tony actively ignored the batant agitation he heard in Jarvis' voice.

"Sir, I have to protest. Miss Emilia may not be physically or maturationally ready to test a weapon this potent. I fear her safety may be at risk."

"Jarvis, I was building combat-ready prototypes at half her age." Tony argued, eyes focused on a ⅗ scale model of his own gauntlet. While he could build a repulsor for his own use in his sleep, the smaller version meant to fit his tiny teenage daughter gave little room for the equipment he typically used. He found himself fabricating just as many tools as components that day to account for the diminished size.

"Sir, that would have made you 6 ½. I hardly think…" Jarvis was interrupted by someone's arrival upstairs. "Miss Stark has returned, sir. Shall I tell her to run, or are you intent on going through with this madness?"

Tony flipped an access panel closed, secured it, and took off the magnifying glasses. "Perfect timing. Send her down."

"If you insist, sir."

Upstairs, Em was rummaging through the fridge looking for an after school snack. Just as she selected an apple from the crisper, Jarvis chimed in above her head. "Welcome home, Miss. Your father would like to see you in his workshop."

Em sighed, took a bite of the apple, and replied, "On my way."

"Are you wearing anything particularly combustible, Miss Emilia?" Jarvis asked, voice following her as she made her way to the stairs.

"_Particularly combustible_?" Em looked at her rather dorky uniform. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. 'I'm not sure." She continued to talk to Jarvis as she descended the stairs. "Do I want it to go up in flames? _Uh, Yeah._ While I'm wearing it? Probably not."

"Noted."

Em put her access code into the pad next to the door to the workshop/garage. The door opened with a hydraulic hiss.

"Looking for me?" She asked, chewing.

Tony smiled. _She's still wearing the watch_. "You're right handed, right? God, I hope you're right handed, because otherwise this is going to get more interesting than I typically like."

Em chuckled. "Yeah, right handed. Why?"

"Well… I built you a little something." He stepped to her side, revealing the small gauntlet he'd been working on all day.

"Cool!" Em got up close so she could see the details. "Um… Why is it _baby __pink_?"

"Pink is bad?"

"Dad, I'm 14. Yeah, pink is bad."

"Well, this is just a prototype. You can go _Project Runway_ on the next one. Wanna try it?"

"So much."

Tony smiled, then tapped a few buttons on the central display. A large metal wall began to emerge from the floor near the rear of the shop. Em shot him a questioning glance.

"Blast wall. I like my cars whole." He replied. He picked up the gauntlet. "Let's see if this thing fits."


End file.
